9 Minutes
by irisdietrich
Summary: I was reading Half-Light by Skuls on AO3 & I got inspired. I liked the idea of taking Mulder and Scully back to the beginning but my reasons will be different. In the first episode they "lost time," 9 minutes. This is my story about Scully living 9 seasons in those 9 minutes and coming back. (Mulder is completely unaware of their history or should I say future?)
1. Chapter 1

**Begins at the end of 9x20 "The Truth"**

Out in the desert Mulder and Scully make their way into a ancient Anasazi pueblos carved in the rocks. Led by an old indigenous woman they travel through a narrow passageway at the mouth of the cave, at the end where it opens up into a living space, CGB Spender is sitting waiting for them.

He looks much older, older than then the rocks that surround them.

"What's the matter, Agent Mulder?" Spender asks taking a drag of his cigarette through the trachea hole in his neck.

"You come to see the wise man but you look as if you've seen a ghost." He taunts the agents.

"You're no wise man. You're a dead man. Just like Krycek and X."

Spender seems amused by Mulder's hostility,

"You see a dead man, Agent Scully?" He asks turning to Mulder's prettier half.

"I hoped and prayed you were dead you chain-smoking, son of a bitch."

"You waste your time... ask Mulder, he knows the futility of hopes and prayers. He knows the truth now." CSM tells Scully.

She looks confused at what Spender is saying. CSM zeroes in on this immediately and begins to exploit it as he's done so many times before.

He smiles condescendingly to Mulder, "You have told her the truth haven't you, Fox? I helped you find it."

Mulder looks a little sick, "You didn't help me. You sent me to that government facility knowing exactly what I'd find."

"And now you refuse to speak it." He taunts, "Not to Scully, not to anyone. You've even refused to testify what you learned ... even though it would have saved your life. You damned me for my secrets ... but you're afraid to speak the truth." For Mulder hiding the truth is a sin neither agent thought he'd be capable of.

CSM takes another drag from his cigarette letting Mulder stew in the awkwardness of being called out in front of his partner... the love of his life.

"You call me afraid? Look at you sitting here alone in the dark like a fossil."

CSM exhales a puff of smoke around him.

"It's the final refuge." He explains, "The last place to hide from those who are insidiously taking power now."

"Who?" Scully steps forward and asks.

"The aliens. They fear this place ... its geology. Magnetite, like that which brought down the original UFO in Roswell. Indian wise men realized this over 2,000 years ago. They hid here and watched their own culture die... the original shadow government."

After taking a break to fill his rotting lungs with more smoke, Spender continues,

"It leaves me to tell you what Mulder's afraid to, Agent Scully."

Mulder turns to Scully, "Come on, let's go." He says trying to prevent the inevitable, trying to get her out of there before she learns the truth he knows, and like him can't un learn it.

But Scully doesn't budge,

"It's a scary story. You want to come sit on my lap?" CSM asks leering at Scully.

"You don't scare me." Scully says staying strong,

CSM just smirks, "My story's scared every president since Truman in '47."

"You don't have to hear this," Mulder tells her.

Scully shakes her head, "No, I want to hear it, Mulder."

"Ten centuries ago the Mayans were so afraid that their calendar stopped on the exact date that my story begins. December 22, the year 2012. The date of the final alien invasion. Mulder can confirm the date. He saw it at Mount Weather ... ...where our own "Secret Government" will be hiding when it all comes down."

Scully looks at Mulder but he doesn't return her gaze, instead his eyes stay trained on CSM, who has a wild glint in his eye - almost a crazed look...

"Yeah, you smile ... feeling drunk with power. The power to do nothing." Mulder accuses CSM.

"My power comes from telling you. Seeing your powerlessness hearing it. They wanted to kill you, Fox. I protected you all these years ... waiting for this moment ... to see you broken. Afraid." Spender taunts his biological son.

Mulder schools his features to reveal nothing,

"Now you can die." CSM tells him.

Outside the agents here a commotion,

Looking out the second level doorway Mulder and Scully see Doggett,

"Mulder, get out of there!" He yells to them, "They know where you are!"

Above two black helicopters, both very heavily armed, continue to the ruins.

Mulder grabs Scully's hand and tries to race down and outside the ruins but it's too late.

There is a loud bang of an explosion and rocks start falling crushing both agents, killing them.

 **CUT TO:**

The last thing Dana Scully felt was the crushing weight of rocks as she was flattened to the ground, her eyes fly open and she gasps for breath.

It takes a moment for her to realize she's in a car, she looks around not expecting death to look like this and immediately finds Mulder in the drivers seat, but he's different, he looks about a decade younger then he did a second ago.

He's trying to start the car but it won't go.

"What happened?" She asks afraid.

"We lost power, brakes, steering, everything." He looks at his watch, There is something about this that seems very familiar to Scully,

"We lost nine minutes." He tells her and gets out of the car and screams into the sky as rain pours down on him.

Suddenly it hits her, she already lived this, on their first case together in Oregon.

She gets out of the car and races over to him,

"We lost what?" She screams out over the rain,

"Nine minutes. I looked at my watch just before the flash and it was nine-o-three. It just turned nine-thirteen." He tells her excitedly, giving no indication that he remembers just a moment ago they both died,

He starts running down the road.

"Look! Look!" He's standing over the pink X he marked earlier that's now only a few feet from the car.

"Oh-ho, yes!" He cheers, "Abductees... people who have made UFO sightings, they've reported unexplained time loss."

He looks to Scully waiting for her reaction but it's not one he ever saw coming...

"Oh holy fuck, no."


	2. Chapter 2

_"Oh holy fuck, no."_

Mulder's eyebrows jump, in the brief time he's known Scully he had her pegged as a straight laced, buttoned up, stick in the mud type, he'd never guess she'd allow herself to be seen frazzled or for her to curse so openly.

"Wow Agent Scully, didn't know you had it in you."

Scully stumbles away from him a bit, going into shock...

 _How was it possible? Was anything that'd happened between them real? Is this real?_

She couldn't tell anymore, she had no touchstone, not even Mulder's presence could steady her, because it wasn't really him... not the one she'd spent 9 years with, had a child with, sacrificed everything for, that Mulder wasn't here... if he ever even existed to begin with.

Mulder became concerned noticing how shaken his new partner appeared to be,

"Hey, whoa Scully, are you okay?"

"You don't remember?" She asked, fear shinning in her big blue eyes.

"Remember what?" He asked confused, he heard her mumble something about 9 years before suddenly she fell to the ground in a faint.

"Scully!"

He ran to her and picked her up off the wet ground and got her back in the car.

After calling for a tow, he brought her back to the motel.

He stayed with her until she regained consciousness,

 **Scully POV:**

 _**Rocks falling, Cigarette Smoking Man, black helicopters, Mulder, the car, the rain, the damn pink X**_

Images kept rearranging themselves in my head, trying to find an order that made sense...

 _**Gibson Praise, Mulder on trial, Krycek, black oil, green blood, Emily, William**_

I could feel consciousness pulling me towards waking, but what would I find when I opened my eyes? Would I be crushed under rumble? Or in the afterlife- heaven, hell, purgatory, would I be back on that damn road in the rain screaming at Mulder...

I was afraid to open my eyes, afraid to know the truth.

"Hey, come on G woman, that's it come back to the living,"

I followed Mulder's voice and opened my eyes, he was there above me as my eyes focused,

"Hey, there she is, you okay? I didn't know people fainted anymore, I thought that was gone with corsets and dandy men who carry around handkerchiefs."

I was laying on a bed in a motel room, I knew without asking I was back in Oregon, back in the past, was this hell, my purgatory, or my second chance?

How would I be able to tell... to decide on which one it was?

I cleared my throat, "Umm, yes, sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it, they don't call me spooky for nothing, just didn't mean to bowl you over with it." He joked.

"Right."

"I'm uhh gonna go back to my room, get some rest, we'll meet up again in the morning?"

I nodded, not trusting my own voice at the moment, and he was gone.

I got up off the bed and walked over to the bathroom and got undressed. Suddenly a thought occurred to me, I turned around in the mirror and looked to my lower back, feeling around.

aaaannnnd yup, there they were, the two mosquito bites, just like before.

Do I go to him again, like I did before. This was the start of us, how we learned to trust each other, this is when he told me about Samantha. Do I play along like I know nothing, is that the same as lying?

I had to know, I had to know if the whole 9 years were real or if I'd imagined them, and there was one way I could think to test it.

If I went to Mulder, if he told me about his sister, if it was the same as before, then I didn't imagine it... this other life I'd led. But then what? Keep pretending? Act like I didn't know what was about to happen before it happened? Or could I actually tell him everything, everything about the syndicate, about December 22nd, and trust he'd believe me?

I put on my robe and went to his door.

Mulder opened the door while holding a candle, just like before... and somehow I knew, I knew it had been real without needing more evidence, without needing proof, I could feel it in my gut, it had all been real.

"Hi."

"I want you to look at something." I said pushing through the door,

"Come on in."

Just do it Dana, I tell myself.

I turn around and slip off my robe exposing my back to him,

"What are they?" I ask and can see the smile creeping on his face.

"Mosquito bites." He answers.

I swallow a lump in my throat, "Are you sure?" I ask.

"Yeah. I got eaten up a lot myself out there." I quickly turn around and throw myself into his arms not bothering to fix my robe, just wanted to feel the warmth of his arms around me.

I feel him tentatively incase me in his arms and hug me back.

"You okay?" He asks.

No, no I'm not okay, I miss you even tho your right here in my grasp.

"Yes." I answer but stay attached to him not caring how inappropriate I'm being.

"You're shaking." He observes and kneels down to help me put my robe on again, I feel him hesitate a little as he passes down my body, lingering a second longer in front of my breasts.

"I'm sorry about how I've acted tonight," I tell him slipping my arms into the sleeves, "I think maybe I just need to sit down for a bit."

"Take your time."

I go over to the bed and lay down, much like I did that first night, and he follows finding a seat on the floor by the bed.

"Mulder?" I call out through the silence.

"Yeah?"

"I know why I was assigned to you, why you're suspicious of me."

"Um, okay."

"I won't play their game, I'll be a good partner to you, you won't always like how I pursue things and I'll probably drive you crazy most of the time with my rigidity, but I'll always have your back. I know it's hard for you to trust that right now, but hopefully one day you will."

He is quiet for awhile absorbing everything I've laid out for him, finally he whispers out...

"You have no idea how much I want to believe that."

 **Mulder POV:**

Something happened to Scully tonight, that much I know. She behaved completely differently from when we got into the car then she did just a moment ago. She seemed shaken but sincere, honestly even though all logic and reason told me not to, I think I already did trust her.

But I had been burned before, so many times I had put my trust in someone only for them to let me down.

Actually I don't know if thats true, I think people have mostly let me down before I've ever fully put my trust in them, but something told me I'd be waiting a long time for that moment to come with Scully, she was different.

I thought for a moment of Diana, the one I actually did put my trust in once upon a time. As crazy as this is, I think Scully had shown me more vulnerability in a couple days then Diana ever trusted me to see in her throughout our partnership, relationship, our marriage. I may have trusted her, but I don't think she ever trusted me. Maybe that's why it was so easy for her to leave.

I want to open up to Scully, tell her about my sister, about what the X-Files mean to me, but I'm afraid. Not of her, but of what I'm already feeling for her.

I can't even put into words what I first thought when she came to my room tonight,

Initially I guessed that she barged in to tell me she was quitting, that she'd had enough of my spooky ways and was booked on the first flight back to D.C. in the morning but then that robe dropped.

Fuuuuck me, she was hiding quite the body under those boxy G lady suits.

She had my tongue practically falling out of my head at the sight of her.

Luckily she kept her back to me for a bit so I could get a handle on little Mulder.

And finally I saw what had her so worried, two tiny mosquito bites.

She was so damn adorable I wanted to spin her around and kiss her senseless.

She nearly knocked me on my ass when she spun around and jumped into my arms, sure it was only a hug and not the make out fantasy I had in mind but still.

I was startled out of my musing by a shrill ringing

**brinnnnng**brinnnnng**brinnnng**

I scrambled up from the floor and grabbed the phone,

"Hello? What? Who is this? Who is thi..." The girl on the other end hung up on me, I turn to tell Scully

"That was some woman... she just said Peggy O'Dell was dead."


	3. Chapter 3

**Scully POV:**

Mulder just told me that Peggy O'Dell died and we need to go down and investigate.

I remember this, she somehow managed to run out in front of a car despite being wheelchair bound.

I run back to my room to change I remember something else...the fire!

When we get back tonight we are supposed to discover the motel up in flames destroying all the evidence we've gathered so far, but maybe that's not how it has to happen this time.

Okay think Dana, what was most important about this case?

\- _Doctor Nemman and Detective Miles knew what was happening but were lying and destroying evidence in order to protect their children, Theresa and Billy._

\- _Billy, despite being in a waking coma, was leaving the hospital every night and brining fellow students into the woods, the aliens were controlling him._

Now what did I need to prove it?

\- _The dirt sample from the woods that could tie Billy Miles to the scene._

 _\- The x-ray of the orangoutang's head, showing the metal implant in the nasal cavity._

 _\- The implant itself._

I smuggled those 3 things in my medical bag and left my computer, notes, and other x rays and evidence bags behind.

Hopefully it will be enough that they won't catch on I've smuggled things out of the room. My notes alone should convince them I'm none the wiser, I remember them being very critical and hard on Mulder the first time around.

After changing I look back over the room before leaving to meet Mulder and smirk looking at my old computer... I remember being so upset about it before but now looking at it I see how primitive it was.

But then I realize that's how all technology is going to be... I'm back in the 90's for crying out loud!

 **Mulder POV:**

Arriving on the scene to find out Peggy O'Dell was able to not only walk but RUN out in front of a car had me more convinced than ever of the existence of the little grey men that have alluded me my whole life.

I have never been closer to the truth, I can feel it! Aliens have something to do with whats happening to these kids, I know it.

I look over to Scully, who is examining the teenager's body.

I go to excitedly bounce some more theories off her but when I get closer I see her expression, I see the blood has gone from her face and she looks... spooked.

When I go over to her I see she's starring at Peggy O'Dell's watch... 9:03pm, the exact same as when we lost time earlier tonight.

"You okay?" I ask placing a hand on her shoulder that seems to shake her out of her trance.

"What? Oh, yeah I'm... I'm fine Mulder."

I don't bust her on lying, it's more a lie to herself than to me.

My phone goes off and I learn someone has trashed the autopsy bay in the lab and stolen the alien/chimp body, I realize that whoever is trying to cover this thing up may try to hit our rooms next.

"Scully! We gotta go!" I tell her and we race back to the Motel only to find it up in flames.

Damn it! We're too late.

 **3rd Person POV:**

"Damn it! Damn it! DAMN IT! The x-rays and pictures!" Mulder exclaims.

Scully can't be sure no one is listening so she doesn't immediately tell Mulder they didn't lose the most important X-Ray.

She sees Theresa Nemman in the crows and nudges Mulder, as he turns to see what Scully is getting his attention for Theresa steps away from the crowd and hurriedly makes her way over to the agents asking... begging for their protection.

She tells them everything she did the first time before Doctor Nemman and Detective Miles came and took her away.

When her nose started bleeding Scully flashed back to the x-ray she had in her bag. Maybe Theresa also had an implant, maybe all the kids did and that's what caused the bleeding and directed them into the woods, allowed Peggy to walk even.

But then she second guessed herself...

What if the implant in the kids was similar to the one she might one day have in her neck again? What if removing it did more harm then good?

She was frustrated that with all the information she had she still felt a powerlessness to save Theresa and Billy from their fate.

Even if she was able to prove the existence of the implant in the teenagers, if it was located in the same region as the orangoutangs, as her cancer had once been, it would be near impossible to remove anyway.

Maybe if she solved this whole thing sooner then they had the first time, it could be different for Theresa and Billy?

That was the only thing she could think to do.

Doctor Nemman and Detective Miles entered the diner. They tried to take Theresa away and warn the agents away from going near Billy again.

"Wait!" Scully said grabbing Theresa to sit back down.

"Please your daughter just had a serious nose bleed, I think it would be good to take her to the hospital at least make sure it was nothing serious."

"There is nothing wrong with my daughter agent Scully, and if there was I'd be perfectly capable to taking care of her without your assistance." Nemman told her firmly.

After Theresa, Miles, and Nemman left the Diner Scully leaned forward,

"They know Mulder. They know who's responsible for the murders."

"They know something..." Mulder commented still sussing out the situation.

"No, I think we need to focus on Billy Miles, his father was very concerned we stay away from him, I think he's the key." Scully argued.

"Well wouldn't you be concerned if your comatose son was suddenly the center of an FBI investigation?" Mulder asked, bizarrely taking on the tone Scully usually has during these cases.

"We didn't lose everything tonight Mulder," She tells him placing a hand over her bag.

"What are you saying?" Mulder asked eyeing her medical bag.

"I have the soil sample still... I think it's time to pay another visit to Billy."

After paying another visit to Billy, Scully was able to gather another sample from his feet to compare to the soil sample she had on her.

Even though she already knew what the results would say she still needed to wait on the proof,

Was this what it felt like to be Mulder? she pondered.

Knowing in your bones what the truth was but always having to go to great lengths to prove even a fraction of it?

She was already having a hard time sitting still, no wonder Mulder had a manic energy about him some of the time.

She could hardly blame him now after getting a peak into how it feels.

She sat by Billy's bedside making sure he didn't get up for another stroll tonight while she waited for the results to come back.

She wanted to take him for the x-ray to see if she was right about the implant but knew it would alert her father of her presence here and most likely end up with her band from the hospital.

 **Mulder POV:**

Okay, it was official my partner was insane, she was placing a comatose teenager under arrest. How in the hell she was going to explain that in her report was beyond me.

I was convinced she was trying to tank her career on purpose just to get off the X-Files, it was the only thing that made any sense to me.

But damn it ever since she made the call no one else had died.

She was able to get a court order for an X-Ray after the soil samples matched and sure enough there was the metal implant in Billy's nasal cavity.

After consulting a ear nose and throat specialist she felt confident she would be able to remove it.

The surgery was a success and after coming out of anesthesia Billy was awake and responsive no longer in a waking coma.

It was still going to be an up hill battle to prove the implant made him commit the acts he was under arrest for but Scully was able to convince Nemman to allow her to treat Theresa as well and later after autopsying Peggy and finding the same thing as in the other two teenager the implant theory could no longer be dismissed as a coincidence.

I had closed several cases on the X-Files but none had the iron clad proof Scully was able to get in one go. I wanted to be impressed with her but something was telling me no one could be that good.

 **Scully POV:**

After submitting my report and being called to present it/defend it to a review board I was exhausted and just wanted to take a nice hot bath.

I opened my door and placed my bag on the counter.

I started stripping my clothes and kicking my shoes off making my way towards the bathroom when suddenly the light flicked on.

I spun around and saw Mulder sitting in the corner.

"Jesus you scared me!" I exclaimed but his expression remained frozen.

"Mulder?"

.

.

.

"Who the hell are you?" He asked.

.

 _so much for that bath._


	4. Chapter 4

**Mulder POV:**

"Who the hell are you?" I ask, _no,_ demand.

She's staring at me frozen like a deer in headlights. When she came in and didn't turn on the lights it took me a moment to realize she was undressing but I quickly flicked the lamp by me on. She still had most of her clothes on but her blouse was almost all the way unbuttoned, thankfully it still left her mostly covered otherwise I might not be able to continue my planned interrogation without getting very, very distracted.

I can practically hear her gulp from all the way across the room.

"You see I have never seen a two year rookie act like you did on that case, not even me."

"Um, Mulder-"

"I get following your gut, believe me if anyone gets that it's me but this was more than that. You weren't just following your instincts you were acting like you already knew what & who we needed to chase. And call me crazy or even spooky but chasing feelings and hunches doesn't fit the Dana Scully I read about, the doctor and scientist who rigidly believes in facts and protocol."

"Please, there's an explanation I promise you."

I get up from the chair I walk towards her.

"You see, I actually believe you. I mean if you were a spy sent to shut me down like I originally thought, your report should have made me look like the unhinged one. And I am a bit hesitant to believe you were somehow behind the murders in Oregon and were some mastermind pulling all our stings which leaves me with one other explanation." I tell her never breaking eye contact.

"And whats that?" She nervously asks me.

"9:03" is all I say.

I see her eyes widen and I know I'm on the right track.

"Ever since we experienced that lost time, you've been acting differently. And I saw your face when you noticed the time on Peggy O'Dell's watch. What the hell happened to you out there Scully?"

"I'll tell you, if anyone deserves the truth it's you, I'll tell you everything." She says and I can see tears filling her eyes but not quite enough to fall down her cheeks in tears.

She looks around as if someone else is in the apartment with us, "But not here, I haven't had a chance to sweep for bugs since getting back."

.

.

"You don't mean back from Oregon, do you?"

She slowly shakes her head no and then goes over to her purse and pulls out some paper and starts writing.

"Meet me here at this time and I'll answer all your questions."

"And what if this is some trap your setting for me." I ask.

"I guess your gonna have to decide if you can trust me."

 **Scully POV:**

I tore my apartment apart after he left, more because of nervous energy then actually believing they had already bugged my place but I was still relived when I didn't find anything. Still I should start checking regularly especially after turning in that report I was bound to have attracted more attention from the syndicate after my stunts in Oregon.

I lay awake in bed that night unable to sleep, I checked the clock -3:08am, I was meeting Mulder in a little over 2 hours.

I still didn't know what I was going to say to him, the truth of corse but how much of it? What if he didn't believe me? What if he wanted nothing to do with me after this? Question after question raced in my mind and before I knew it it was time to head over to our meeting place.

I had chosen the bench from one of the first times the bureau had closed the X-Files on us, tried to keep us separated... Mulder confided in me that night he was considering leaving the FBI but I pushed my way onto his case and we found our way back to the basement and happy to be there.

It was still dark when I arrived, Mulder was already sitting looking out at the Washington Monument just like he had before. I realized I had better make my peace with Deja Vu because I probably had years of it ahead of me.

"Is this seat taken?" I asked

"No. But I should warn you, I'm experiencing violent impulses." I chuckled on the inside, just like before.

"Well, I'm armed, so I'll take my chances."

We sat in silence for a few moments before I finally worked up the courage to start this conversation.

"Mulder, what I have to tell you... its unbelievable and honestly I am scared. I am scared you won't believe me and any chance or hope I gave myself of what you and I could be together... accomplish together will be gone. I've lived through a lot of things, but through it all I always had hope, I don't know if I'll survive without it so however unbelievable you find what I'm about to tell you please at least consider the possibility."

He studied me for a moment considering my words before earnestly agreeing, "Okay, I promise Scully I won't outright dismiss what your about to tell me."

I exhaled and closed my eyes praying for strength to get through this.

"Mulder that night in Oregon, at 9:03... your right something did happen to me. I don't fully understand it myself but I went on existing past 9:12 past this month, this year, all the way into the year 2002, I lived 9 years in those nine minutes Mulder and somehow traveled right back."

 **Mulder POV:**

She was... from the future? Is that what she was telling me? I said I wouldn't dismiss her straight away but boy she wasn't kidding when she said it was unbelievable.

"Can you prove it?" I asked her.

"Didn't I already do that regarding solving our case?" Alright she had a point there but still I needed more.

"Why do I eat sunflower seeds?" I asked trying to test her.

"They remind you of your father." Okay okay, but its possible she had stalked me and my family or somehow had a super invasive background check done... ummm I need something else, something tougher to ask her.

"What do you know about my eye sight?"

"Your far sighted and red-green color blind." Okay that was impressive but she was a doctor maybe she had sneaked a peak at my medical records...

"Okay, what's my biggest fear?"

She sighs like she's getting tired of these questions but answers anyway, "fire."

"Mulder, why don't you ask what you really want to know, what will really convince you?"

Maybe because I'm afraid...

"Tell me about my sister." I finally say.

She looks sad but nods and tells me every little detail, things I've never told anyone... at least not yet.

Finally I take a deep breath and ask what it is I really want to know.

"If what your saying is true, do we... did we ever find out what happened to her?"

"Yes, we did."

"Will you tell me?" I ask.

I can tell from the look on her face that it's not good, a part of me wants to run off and never know, keep her alive and safe somewhere inside me rather than confront the truth I have been searching for all my life.

"I'm so sorry Mulder, she died in 1979."

 _._

 _._

 _._

 _Damn the truth._


	5. Chapter 5

**Mulder POV:**

1979... that means she was barely 15 when she died.

After Scully told me what she knew the sun had risen, bathing D.C. in a brilliant yellow/orange light that seemed to chase all it's demons away down into the cracks of the sidewalks were they lay waiting right beneath the surface until they could come out and rule again the next night.

I told her I needed time to process everything and wanted some time alone.

Unfortunately we weren't given too much time before we were back on a case together and whatever was going on with our personal lives had to be put on pause again.

 **Scully POV:**

It had been a week since I had seen Mulder, I kept waiting for a call to meet him at a bar for him to show me the photos he'd come across and convince me we should investigate a possible conspiracy at Ellen's Air Base. But that call never came and the case went un-investigated by us.

It had been an important case, Mulder had meet "deep throat," a syndicate member/our sometimes informant. But I convinced myself it was more important to give Mulder this time to deal with his sister's passing.

I went about my life as normally as I could, with a few more calls to family members who were still alive. I was determined to make every extra moment I was given with them count all the more.

I was coming home from seeing a movie with my sister when Tom Colton's voice came over my answering machine confirming our lunch for the next day.

 _Shit!_ I panicked remember what case this was leading to, Eugene Tooms. I get a shiver thinking about that creepy bastard. I pick up the phone and call Mulder, his time away is about to come to an end, Tooms is someone we have to deal with together and a soon as possible.

 **Mulder POV:**

I told Scully I needed time to process but that wasn't the truth, I needed time to investigate. I left immediately for California to confirm if what she told me had indeed been the truth.

I hopped a fence on to April Air Force Base and ran as steathily as I could over to the residential section to the street Scully had mentioned, Albatross Street. Trust me the nuance of the name wasn't lost on me.

Coming across Samantha's name and her little hand prints on the side-walk after so long of dead ends and false leads, I almost couldn't believe what I was seeing. Or maybe I just didn't want to believe, it meant this journey I was on for the truth was over and I hadn't been the one to solve it, to save her in my own way she was just gone... vanished.

I just sat there for a while, I'm not sure for how long but I couldn't look away. It was more surreal then any trip to Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Obviously my hands were too big to fit inside but I must have traced over the outline of her fingers 3 dozen times.

Finally I pull myself up and go into the house, it's deserted and stripped to the bare bones with no furnishings making it clear whoever's lived here hasn't in a long time.

Scully mentioned Sam's diary being hidden in the wall of a room but she never specified which just something about it being behind a built in bookshelf, but there seems to be a lot of built ins in this house so it's not really helping narrow down the search area too much.

Luckily it was only my second try when I came across the small book that had my sister's handwriting. I was about to open in but I suddenly heard a noise and a stream of light pierced through the room most likely from a flashlight, I had been spotted or heard most likely when I was breaking apart furniture.

I get to the back door and star running for the fence, two cars are chasing me I make it over but am stopped in my tracks by the third car, the door files open and a man tells me to get in, behind me I can hear them loading weapons so without much choice I jump in the stranger's car.

We drive a few miles in silence, he won't answer any question I ask him and pulls a gun on my when I try to open the door to roll out. Finally he pulls over, he exits the car and walks around to my side opening the door,

"Please, step out of the car." He tells me.

I think about ignoring him, maybe if I do he'll go just go away

The man knocks on the window again, guess I'm not that lucky.

"Please, step out of the car!"

I get out and retrieve my ID incase he was planning on waking me, "Special Agent Mulder, FBI."

He pushes me against the car and searches me, he feels the book I have stashed in my jacket,

"What's this? How did you find this, what are you even doing here, how could you have possible found this place?" He demands.

"Hey, give that back you son of a bitch." He punches me right in the stomach, pretty damn hard too, for an old guy that is.

"What exactly is this about, is it about my sister? What's it to you what I know and how?"

"I don't know what brought you here but you need to turn around and leave town immediately, or assume the consequences of intense indiscretion.

"Yeah, that's kind of what I was doing before you ordered me in your car. So if you just want to give me that book back, I'll be on my way. Do you happen to know which road around here is best for hitchhiking?"

He looks down at the diary trying to decide what to do, but I'll be damned if I'm leaving here without it.

He slowly hands the book back to me, I tentatively reach out and take it not sure if its a trap or not.

"You and your partner have been making some pretty big waves, your lives, may be in danger." He tells me.

"Why?"

"Mmm, you've seen things that weren't to be seen." He says looking at the diary in my hands.

"And she's not nearly as controllable as they were hoping. Care and discretion, are now imperative." I get a sick feeling when he brings up Scully.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Let's just say I can provide you with information, but only so long as it's in my best interest to do so."

I narrow my eyes at him, "And what is your interest?"

"The truth." My new Deep Throat says as he starts to walk back to his car.

"This is about more then just my sister, isn't it?" I shout after him.

Deep Throat turns to look at me once more before sitting in his car. He drives along side me and rolls down the window.

"Your partner should be calling you soon, if I was you I'd take the call... she seems to know what she's doing, just try to help her stay alive long enough to do it."

Next thing I know he's left me being in a cloud of dust as his car speeds away.

 **3rd Person POV:**

Mulder was late meeting Scully in George Usher's office in Baltimore, he had been delayed in traffic coming straight from the airport.

He goes in and hears a man say, "Dana, sorry I'm late,"

Mulder enters behind him and makes eye contact with his partner, "What he said, Scully."

"It's fine Tom, as you can see my partner just got here as well."

It doesn't slip by Mulder that both used each other's first names when referring to one another, it does surprise him that their familiarity seems to bother him.

Scully then makes an awkward introduction between the two men, "Er, Fox Mulder, Tom Colton."

They both look each other over seeming to have a telepathic duel to see who can measure bigger.

"So, Mulder, what do you think, does this look like the work of little green men?"

"Grey." Scully injects surprising Tom,

"Excuse me."

"They're grey, right Mulder." It took a second for Mulder to realize she wasn't teasing him but trying to come to his defense.

"Indeed, Dr. Scully's right, a Reticulan skin tone is actually grey, they're notorious for their extraction of terrestrial human livers. Due to iron depletion in the Reticulan galaxy."

"You can't be serious." _Tom_ said looking between the two partners.

"Do you have any idea what liver and onions go for on Reticula?" Mulder asks before excusing himself to look around the scene. But its not hard for him to hear _Tom and Dana_ talking in the next room.

"Dana, I've been thinking about this and I have a theory, might explain alot, tell me what you think."

Mulder rolls his eyes at Tom trying to impress Scully. Mulder looks down as he sees something. Mulder bends down to pick it up, using tweezers. As he gets a closer look it appears to be a piece of metal thread

"What if the guy enters..." Tom continues.

Mulder looks at the thread and then looks up and sees the cover to the ventialtion shaft

"Hold on a second. What in the hell's he doing?" Tom's voice sounds closer as both him and Scully move into the room Mulder's in.

Mulder lifts up a small finger print brush and dusts around the cover.

"Err, that vent is six inches by about eighteen, even if a Reticulan could crawl through, it's screwed in place." Tom tells Mulder giving him an incredulous look.

But Mulder has revealed an elongated fingerprint.

Scully smiles behind Tom, proud of Mulder.

 **Later Back at their Office**

"So I see I impressed you a little out there today." Mulder comments to Scully.

"I wasn't completely sure if you'd catch it again."

"Ah so it was a test to see if I can still function as a kick ass agents without my all seeing partner?"

"And you passed with flying colors."

"Think I managed to impress Tom too? I mean damn those cheek bones, whew."

Scully rolls her eyes but can't help grinning at Mulder's teasing, this feels right to her, it feels like them.

She desperately wants to ask about Samantha but forces herself not to, he asked for time and she needs to trust when he's read to talk about it he'll come to her.

"So fill me in, how'd we do on this case?" He asks.

"Actually Mulder, we need to be super careful here, this guy is not to be underestimated, even with our... advantage."

Mulder studied her and realized whoever this guy was he had Scully afraid, and immediately he wanted the bastard dead to rights, or just dead.

Scully passed over a file and Mulder starts reading, he stops and looks up at her chuckling,

"Is this a joke? It says he was born in 1873." But the look on Scully's face let's him know she's serious.

"Tooms was a sort of mutant serial killer." Scully explains.

"Go on," Mulder tells her preferring to hear it from her then read about it in a file.

"As you may have guessed from the fingerprint you found he is able to squeeze his body through extremely narrow gaps. He has a unique muscle and bone structure that allows for elongation and superior control of his body. Due to his insanely low metabolic rate, he is able to slip into hibernation, he extends his life by feeding on human livers. He has a pattern of murdering 5 people every 30 years, removing each victim's liver's with his bare hands."

"And what number is he on now?" Mulder asks.

"Second... I think or maybe third, I'm sorry I'm having trouble remembering exactly."

"Hey, its okay just tell me what you do remember,"

"I know there was a college girl he killed before George Usher."

"Okay, do you know who he's going to go after next?" Mulder asks wanting to minimize the body count if they can, plus catching him in the act would make the case pretty air tight.

"I caught him in an air duct, returning to the scene of another of his killings, he was brought to the Bureau in Baltimore and he was given a polygraph but the only time the needle jumped was when you asked about his age."

"Let me guess that one jump wasn't enough to convince them and he walked."

"Pretty much." Scully confirmed.

"Alright so what's the plan on catching this guy?"

"I don't know but we need to figure it out quickly before he kills anyone else."

With that Mulder got to work studying the rest of the file Scully had made on Tooms and together they worked to putting an end to Tooms once and for all.


End file.
